Pentium

I have noticed the attention your newspaper has devoted to the error in the Pentium computer chip. Particularly interesting was Michael Schrage's "Computerdom's Winds of Change Will Bring a Blast of Fresh Errors" (Dec. 15). While the analyses you have published are largely correct, I think some additional comments reflecting my participation in the computer software business since 1957 may be helpful. When I was much younger, I owned several automobiles. My experience with those cars and with their manufacturers was analogous to my experience with computer hardware and software in the present day. I think that computer technology is in the same phase of its life as automobile technology was in the 1950s.

Intel Corp. is trying to help physicist Stephen Hawking keep speaking. Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner told the Associated Press that the tech giant has a research team in Britain that is trying to come up with a new speech system for Hawking, who is severely diasabled by Lou Gehrig's disease. The goal is to keep Hawking's speech from continuing to slow. It's a tedious process for Hawking to speak. A tiny infrared sensor translates movement in his right cheek into words spoken by a voice synthesizer.

As a parent, I support continuation of the educational program in the Conejo Valley School District at Meadows School, even though I believe it lowers academic standards. However, I find the support of school board members Dorothy Beaubien, Dolores Didio and Richard Newman for this option and parental "choice" hypocritical. I have tried to donate the use of several excellent Pentium multimedia computer systems and perhaps a Sun workstation with the simple condition that the equipment be used in a high-tech independent study program for my son and others.

Intel Corp. on Thursday canceled plans for a 4-gigahertz version of its Pentium computer chip, the sixth time this year the company has delayed or scrapped new products. Intel, whose microprocessors power more than 80% of the world's personal computers, instead will sell a Pentium version with more built-in memory, spokesman Robert Manetta said. Intel had delayed the 4-gigahertz product's debut in July. Adding memory is a simpler change to make than increasing the chip's speed, analysts said.

In the news: Reader Dave Dobrin of Westchester, on the faulty Intel computer: "What's another name for the 'Intel Inside' sticker they put on Pentiums? The warning label. Why didn't Intel call the Pentium the 586? Because they added 486 and 100 on the first Pentium and got 585.999983605 ." Comedy writer Alan Ray, on Boris Yeltsin sending 20,000 troops to the tiny republic of Chechnya: "Observers say he made the move to boost sagging approval ratings.

Intel Corp. is trying to help physicist Stephen Hawking keep speaking. Intel chief technology officer Justin Rattner told the Associated Press that the tech giant has a research team in Britain that is trying to come up with a new speech system for Hawking, who is severely diasabled by Lou Gehrig's disease. The goal is to keep Hawking's speech from continuing to slow. It's a tedious process for Hawking to speak. A tiny infrared sensor translates movement in his right cheek into words spoken by a voice synthesizer.

The look was something between pity and contempt. There was I, standing amid the deafening noise of the annual Electronics Entertainment Expo blathering loudly about how "Dominion" was just another "Starcraft" knockoff. It moves like "Starcraft," seems to play like "Starcraft" and even kind of looks like "Starcraft," I said then. Duh, how much more of a knockoff could it be? That's when I got the look.

Plenty of others before Intel Corp. have come to Hollywood seeking fame and fortune. Of course, the Silicon Valley behemoth already has plenty of both--its microprocessors run about 85% of all personal computers. But with an ever more powerful line of Pentium processors and a voracious appetite for new markets, Intel is hoping to improve on the record of such Tinseltown darlings as Silicon Graphics and Apple Computer by nurturing the fledgling new-media industry.

When a Gateway 2000 representative suggested recently that I review the company's latest Pentium Pro PC, I balked. I thought that the "Pro" was just for corporations to use as a network file server, or for an advanced operating system like Windows NT. But when I looked at Gateway's prices, I noticed that a machine with a 180-megahertz Pentium Pro chip costs the same as an otherwise identical system with a standard 200-MHz Pentium chip.

July 29, 1993 | RICHARD O'REILLY, RICHARD O'REILLY is director of computer analysis for The Times

Unprecedented power and unparalleled confusion are the twin promises of a new generation of Intel Pentium-based microcomputers now beginning to trickle into the marketplace. Based on the performance of Compaq's new Deskpro 5/60M, a desktop computer optimized as a Windows and CAD (computer-aided design) workstation, the new Pentium machines offer major performance gains at moderate prices.

Intel Corp. said Friday that it was abruptly ending development of its next-generation personal computer chip and changing direction to go with a more promising design. The Santa Clara, Calif., company scrapped its work on a chip code-named "Tejas" to focus on new desktop and laptop PC chips with dual cores, which allow additional computing power to be built in.

Intel Corp. cut prices of its older Pentium 4 computer chips by as much as 52% after the world's biggest semiconductor maker started selling faster models last week. Intel reduced the cost of a 2.4-gigahertz Pentium 4 to $193 from $400 and lowered the prices of 2.26-GHz and 2.2-GHz versions 20% to $193 each in 1,000-unit shipments. Analysts predicted these reductions earlier this year, and Intel often chops prices to make way for new products. The Santa Clara, Calif.

Intel Corp. will start selling a smaller, faster version of its Pentium 4 computer processor this week, as the world's biggest chip maker rolls out a new manufacturing process. The new semiconductor runs at 2.4 gigahertz. Within a month Intel will ship Pentium 4s made on larger, 300-millimeter wafers, spokesman Robert Manetta said. The new chips will cost about $560 each in 1,000-unit shipments, Manetta said.

Chip-making giant Intel Corp. plans to upgrade its flagship Pentium 4 processor for desktop computers next year and make another version available for laptops in coming weeks. The desktop Pentium 4, code-named Prescott, will incorporate a new technology called hyper-threading that tricks the operating system into thinking it is running on two processors instead of one. The company also demonstrated a 4-gigahertz Pentium 4, which is expected to be available next year.

Intel Corp. is expected today to unveil a new line of Pentium 4-based chips for the $55-billion U.S. server market. The chips, called Xeon, run 30% to 80% faster than the current Intel crop and feature a new technology called hyperthreading, which boosts performance by allowing each chip to manage two separate streams of data simultaneously. The announcement is part of the Santa Clara, Calif., semiconductor giant's ongoing effort to diversify its business beyond consumer desktop computers.

Major chip companies, including Japan's Toshiba Corp., are preparing to slash tens of thousands of jobs worldwide, anticipating that deepening price cuts and faster products won't be enough to stimulate demand in the near future. Toshiba, the second-largest semiconductor maker after Intel Corp., said Monday that it will eliminate 17,000 jobs in Japan and 1,800 elsewhere in the next three years, reducing its work force by about 10%. Hitachi Ltd.

Intel Corp. cut prices on its Pentium and Pentium II processors for portable computers as much as 42%, as the world's largest chip maker moves to slash prices more frequently. The Pentium MMX chip running at 200 megahertz was cut to $134 from $230, or 42%. The 233-megahertz chip was cut to $213 from $359, and a 266-megahertz version was reduced to $348 from $466.

In an ominous new twist to the Pentium chip controversy, computer users in corporations around the world are rushing to establish whether a flaw in the Intel microprocessor may have resulted in miscalculations that could make them vulnerable to lawsuits or trouble from government agencies.

Intel Corp. plans this month to slash prices on its top-of-the-line Pentium 4 microprocessors by 54% to stimulate underwhelming demand, analysts who spoke with the company said Monday. The news sent shares of the No. 1 chip maker down $1.40 to $30.28 on Nasdaq and dragged down other technology shares as well. More typical price cuts for microprocessors, which are the brains of personal computers, are in the 30% range.